Soccer

Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski out for four weeks with fractured tibia

Polish striker played the full game against Chelsea and scored his side’s third goal

Robert Lewandowski scores Bayern Munich’s third goal during the Champions League round of 16 first leg match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Photograph: Adam Davy/PA Wire

Nick Ames
Wed Feb 26 2020 - 17:11

Robert Lewandowski will be out for around four weeks after fracturing his left tibia against Chelsea, Bayern Munich have said. The forward played the whole game at Stamford Bridge but tests on Wednesday revealed the injury.

Lewandowski is due to miss the second leg against Chelsea and likely four Bundesliga matches but should be back for any Champions League quarter-final. He scored Bayern’s final goal in the 3-0 victory over Frank Lampard’s team.

Bayern said Lewandowski suffered “a fracture of the tibia at his left knee joint” and added: “After 10 days of being immobilised in plaster, build-up training will begin. The total downtime will be around four weeks.”

The blow for player and club came after David Alaba said Lewandowski should be bracketed alongside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in any conversation about the world's best forwards.

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At Chelsea Lewandowski also supplied two assists for Serge Gnabry, the first a particularly unselfish lay-off when he could have been excused going for goal. Alaba said the 31-year-old, who has scored 39 times for Bayern in all competitions this season, belonged in the most exalted company.

“He is a world-class player and a world-class striker,” he said. “We all know that he can score goals and he showed today another side of himself by putting assists. We know he is very important to us and we are grateful to have him in our squad.

“He shows it every weekend, I guess. He is one of the best, and maybe the best, striker in the world. He scores goals in almost every game and, of course, I think he deserves to be at the top and spoken about with those guys [Messi and Ronaldo].”

Such a dominant Bayern performance sparked suggestions they are ready to win their first Champions League since 2013. They seem well over the hump of a rocky start to their campaign, when Niko Kovac was replaced as manager by Hansi Flick in November, and Alaba suggested they had defied expectations to recapture their best form.

“I think three months ago nobody thought we would be here at this point,” he said. “We showed that we are back. We are very confident, keep going, keep rolling, and this is our goal at the moment – to go from game to game and be successful.” - Guardian

Cristiano RonaldoDavid AlabaFrank LampardHansi FlickLionel MessiNiko KovacRobert LewandowskiSerge Gnabry